In June of 2020, when all of a sudden, nobody cared about covid anymore during the Floyd protests, a joke started gaining currency:
"Did you hear the joke about the cure for covid? It's a riot!"
Fine, I figured, so now we're over worrying about covid.
Then September came and with it, all of a sudden, the governor of New York was declaring red zones where houses of worship were shut down and gatherings were once again being prohibited. And I'm like, WTF?
And then these scumbag politicians and media authorities started trying to gaslight us into believing that the whole summer of free-for-all never happened. That CHAZ and CHOP and the mostly peaceful cities ablaze were all a figment of right wing imagination.
The scales fell from my eyes and, while I still certainly support some government activities when private enterprise can't manage them, I'll never trust the establishment (on things that matter) without verifying again.
@spruce112358said Science can answer many questions effectively but it still proceeds from assumptions. If two scientists (Jha v. Bhattacharya) start from different assumptions, they will arrive 'scientifically' at different conclusions.
One set of assumptions says that if more people live longer, that's better.
The other assumes that large human die-offs are no big deal, and it is better not to impact the survivors quality of life.
Just out of curiosity, did it not at all bother you in the Spring of 2020 that The Science® told us that the college kids in Wisconsin who went to outdoor bars in May were death cultists but The Science® also explained to us that the George Floyd protests did almost nothing to spread covid?
Did you watch these things and say "oh, yeah; that makes sense"?
@spruce112358said Science can answer many questions effectively but it still proceeds from assumptions. If two scientists (Jha v. Bhattacharya) start from different assumptions, they will arrive 'scientifically' at different conclusions.
One set of assumptions says that if more people live longer, that's better.
The other assumes that large human die-offs are no big deal, and it is better not to impact the survivors quality of life.
Obviously, neither of those black/white assumptions is accurate or really represents anybody's viewpoint. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between. Nobody takes the position that "large human die-offs are no big deal" but equally, nobody can take the position that a million people should suffer drastically reduced quality of life to give one 87 year old an extra 3 years of life.
Regardless, your post illustrates perfectly how "science" and "education" is almost by definition influenced by opinion, rendering the "you're anti-education or anti-science" cudgel used by many to attack those who disagree with them, as disingenuous nonsense.
@sleepyguysaid I think what some are identifying as disdain for education is actually disdain for left wing "educators" who take perfectly good young people and try turning them into bitter Marxists with gender dysphoria instead of successful happy people. Conservatives do value knowledge and skill, but modern universities have increasingly become an unsafe place to send your kids to get ...[text shortened]... Peterson, Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman and son on, but I'll bet they don't count for some reason.
I'll add that "education" is too often viewpoint-limited in the eyes of the rightthink establishment.
For example, during Covid, Follow The Science® meant agree with people like Ashish Jha and models built by Niels Ferguson, but not Stanford Professor Jay Bhattacharya, because The Science® didn't include anything that subscribed to a non-approved viewpoint.
[quote]US President Joe Biden says he expects Iran to attack Israel "sooner than later", as fears grow of Iranian retaliation over an air strike that killed top commanders early this month.
Israel has not admitted attacking an Iranian consulate in Syria but is widely believed to have been behind it.
US officials have ...[text shortened]... ing and starting whole bloody wars based on lies.
@cliff-mashburnsaid Several jurors later said that they thought he did it, but fell back on "reasonable doubt" to let him off. I believe they were fearful of reprisals by OJ fans or blacks in general if they found him guilty...and rightfully so.
They're lying. They let him off to punish the LAPD. The judge and the prosecution let the trial devolve into a circus and a trial of the LAPD rather than of OJ Simpson. As Robert Shapiro later said, they played the race card from the bottom of the deck. And it was an Ace.
@cliff-mashburnsaid I remember the day of the verdict, spontaneous demonstrations erupted all over the country by blacks, delirious with joy. They drove around with their lights on and honking and waving at each other.
Soooo glad that OJ slaughtered two white people and got away with it.
I think it was more like a black guy finally beat the system that they felt was rigged against them and LAPD racists like Mark Fuhrman were finally exposed and punished.
But all that has nothing do with the OJ's guilt, which was clear and obvious to anyone with half a brain.
@cliff-mashburnsaid You obviously didn't follow the trial at all. The evidence was overwhelming.
He even admitted doing it in jail when talking to Rosie Greer but it was inadmissible since Greer was acting as a pastor and it was privileged information..
The evidence was overwhelming even without Greer. They found his blood and her blood in the car and her blood on his gloves. All of this was confirmed with DNA identification. His bloody Bruno Magli shoeprints were found at the scene.
Of course he did it.
The defense argument was hardly even that he didn't do it. It was to tell the mostly black jury that the LAPD are a bunch of racist hooligans.
"Who is going to police the police? You can, with this verdict." - Johnny Cochran, during closing arguments.
And that's exactly what they did. They let OJ get away with murder to send a message to the LAPD.
Even the argument that this jury nullification was justified is a better argument than that he was innocent. There's zero chance he was innocent.
@mchillsaid And therein, as the bard would say, lies the rub. - Inside Man. 2006 😏
I can't claim to have the solution to all this, but what would have helped a great deal, is for these oil rich Arab countries to begin to supply the Palestinians with better housing, hospitals, and food aid, and begin to work with the west to stop these attacks on Israel before they happen, and to insist ...[text shortened]... their official status as a country might be. The Saudi's and others could easily afford to do this.
Agree with everything, except how do you define "Palestinian land"?
It can't be "land in Palestine" because there was never an independent country called Palestine. If you mean all land, even empty land, that belonged to Jordan or Egypt before the '67 war, then if Jordan and Egypt don't want it, why should Israel not build on it?
@spruce112358said On Nov 9th, 1917, Britain gave European Zionists permission to set up a colony in Palestine. Naturally, none of the people living in Palestine at the time were asked if they wanted to be colonized.
Over the next 31 years, migrants arriving mostly from Poland and Russia but also the rest of Europe, America and elsewhere caused tensions to rise in Palestine. Finally, in ...[text shortened]... see what happens next.
The end of the last gasp of colonialism in human history is long overdue.
Do you want to force repatriation of every descendant of a displaced person or just Palestinians?
Do I get my grandfather's apartment in Berlin back?